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- Weight–209.8 (-11.5)
- BF %–30.0 (-1%)
Another week down, but more importantly another 2.3 pounds down. I’m really getting confident in my new lifestyle! In diets past, I was embarrassed to admit that I had a problem and was on a diet. Now, something in my head has finally clicked; I’m not on a diet, I’m getting healthy and there’s nothing embarrassing about it. I’m proud when I’m dining out with people and I’m making smart choices. I’m eating often, and I’m still eating things that I want to eat, but my portions are much smaller and therefore I’m not hungry very often. I do sometimes still feel hungry right before bed, but a little water usually does the trick.
I’m also gearing up for my exercise program. On Monday, I took a tour of my local Gold’s Gym and today, I’m signing up for a 3-year program (paid in full and up front to help keep me motivated and going to the gym.) I’m excited about this because they’re including 6 free sessions with a personal trainer that will include a body fat % measurement with calipers and a complete exercise and nutrition plan.
Also on Monday, the whole family went to the grocery store right before dinner. I’ve often heard that it’s not a good idea to go shopping when you’re hungry. For me, it’s especially dangerous when I go with my starving, stick-thin wife (Pam) who can eat whatever she wants. It was an enlightening experience. We had a list, we stuck to it, and we didn’t buy anything extra. I lobbied for a dinner-stop on the way home, and Pam would have none of it. In general, she has a much more disciplined personality than me, and it’s been really nice to have her support. So we went home and I cooked green beans with garlic and Tilapia with a little bit of clarified caper butter. It was delicious, filling, and high in protein.
I’m hoping that with my new gym membership, I can turn some of my fat into lean muscle. I’m prepared for my weight loss to slow down a bit as my lifting regiment increases, but hopefully it won’t be too dramatic as I’ve been looking forward to stepping on the scale lately!
J.D.
15 responses so far ↓
1 Eric Nagel // Jan 16, 2008 at 8:08 am
Nice job! It’s going to be important to watch your body fat closely and weight less as you start lifting weights. I haven’t lost any weight in the past 9 months, but dropped about 10% body fat (from 22% to 11.5%).
I’m glad to hear you’re not on a diet, as diets are short-term and typically fail. Learning to eat right, however, is a lifestyle change that sticks with you forever.
Eric
2 greenman2001 // Jan 16, 2008 at 9:02 am
Great news, Mac! Like others who have commented here, I’m curious about whether the caliper method of determining body fat confirms the info you’re getting from the impedence method using your snazzy bath scale. I’ve read that water displacement is the only truly accurate way of determining body fat. Any more info on this would be appreciated.
Eric: yours is a tremendous achievement. You should feel extremely proud of yourself. Most people who set out on this path fail to ever reach the point you have. You know better than anyone how different your body looks with 11% body fat versus 22%, and how essentially irrelevant your weight is at this point. Anything you’d care to share about how you managed this would really be appreciated.
3 macdaddy // Jan 16, 2008 at 9:11 am
4 MS // Jan 16, 2008 at 10:36 am
Great job! It’s good to see that the holidays didn’t throw you off track.
5 leanne // Jan 16, 2008 at 11:10 am
One of the best things I ever did was sign up for a pre-paid 3 year membership with a gym. Now my annual renewal is only $20! It’s pretty awesome. Also, I was in my best shape during the times I met with the trainer once a week. I would actually go to the gym more often so I could proudly say that I did X many workouts since my last session. I think this will be awesome for you!
6 Allen // Jan 16, 2008 at 11:55 am
I’d advise against a pre-paid membership. It won’t keep you motivated to keep going. It becomes a mental ’sunk-cost’.
You will be MORE motivated to go to the gym if you have to keep paying the $20-30 every month.
Also, you can get a very good workout at home with relatively inexpensive equipment that is just as good as what is in the gym.
7 Denise // Jan 16, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Now that you’re going to be weight training, I’d focus less on weight loss and more on body transformation and how your clothes fit. As we all know, muscle weighs more than fat, so just because your not losing 3 pounds a week doesn’t mean you’re not changing your body.
Also, remember to do your weight training first and cardio last - that way you will break down the sugars in your body while you lift. This lets your body burn fat the whole time you do cardio.
And we ALWAYS combine cardio and weight training, right?
8 macdaddy // Jan 16, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Allen: Your motivation for 20/month may work, but for me it’s the big chunk of change that I’m shelling out now that is intimidating/motivating
Denise: I’m going to be paying more attention to my clothes and BF% for sure, and yes, we ALWAYS do combine cardio and weight training. At least we ALWAYS will
9 TosaJen // Jan 16, 2008 at 1:24 pm
LOL! I relate to the gym mind-games. I found prepaid to be motivating, too — “it’s paid for” works for me. However, DH has done the gym membership prepay, month-to-month, and one upscale gym with an impressive enrollment, and none seems to be terribly motivating for him.
Whatever works for you is good — it’s all mind games and setups, hopefully better and more health-promoting mind games (or hacks, as JD calls them).
Just curious — does “whole family” = you and DW, or are there little macdaddies in there, too? The little ‘uns can up the degree of difficulty in some areas and making things easier in others.
10 stickthinwife // Jan 16, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Mac - I think you downplay my own health decisions here. I eat three meals a day - period - and get a moderate amount of exercise. I rarely snack, eat junk food, have dessert, and I don’t drink a lot of alcohol. Even when I wasn’t exercising, I still was very active. I am not one to spend huge chunks of time in front of the TV or reading every single new question on Metafilter.
11 macdaddy // Jan 16, 2008 at 1:51 pm
12 Emily // Jan 16, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Some “working with a trainer” advice from a fellow cheapskate here:
Don’t use your “free sessions” to train with them once a week. Space it out and train with them, and get your physical fitness status updates, once a month.
As your fitness improves, you will need to update your weight lifting workouts. Meeting with your trainer - or, rather, the trainer the gym provides to you - once a month would be perfect for this. And once a month is enough to “keep you honest” and show your progress with the body fat calipers, etc. At the end of 6 months you’ll know if you want to invest more in getting paid time with the gym’s trainers.
Good luck!
13 TosaJen // Jan 16, 2008 at 6:12 pm
I have the same configuration at my house. I look forward to where you find them inspiring and hindering. The little darlings definitely affect my efforts at being healthy and active on both sides.
14 Dave Child // Jan 17, 2008 at 4:45 am
I’ve just started in the gym at work doing some weight training and the first couple of weeks have been quite painful. I’ve been suffering with DOMS - delayed onset muscle soreness - which is common for people starting on weights.
Week 3 now, and the soreness does not come on as strong as it did in the beginning. I’ve now, I think, got a decent balance: diet is better, strength training regularly, squash and racketball for cardio - and all stuff I like, which makes the whole lot sustainable.
Sounds like you’re on your way to a similar balance, but you’re definitely a step ahead of me - I’ve not measured my body fat yet (even though I know I probably should if I want to have any useful way to track my progress other than seeing how my trousers fit …).
15 Asithi // Jan 17, 2008 at 8:09 am
Good luck on the gym membership. Before my car accident (when I really did not have a weight issue), I went to the gym regularly every other day since I am paying for it. After my car accident (when I put one the weight), I just couldn’t find the motivation to go. I think I for an 8 month period, I only used my membership twice. I finally cancel my membership and started working out at home instead.
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